Side Note on Indexing Belgian Records for FamilySearch Indexing

It had been some time since I had indexed Belgian records and feeling rusty I have been very self-conscious about making mistakes in deciphering the sometimes not so easy to read records but also following the rules particular to this project.

This afternoon I came across a name that I read as "Marie Josephine Waudin Hanot d'Harvengt"
mmm...  Something was off...  Was "Waudin" part of a long last name?
I decided to see if maybe by chance I could find something on Geneanet that would help me figure it out.

I tried "D'Harvengt" and got several results but none that linked in with the father's last name "Bonaert", so I tried "Bonaert" and BINGO!

and there she was! NOT "Waudin" as I read it but "Waudru" and that is a given name  NOT a last name.

As it turned out the birth record I was indexing was that of their son Louis "Henri" Victor Joseph François Ghislain BONAERT, who apparently later might have become the mayor of Foy-Notre-Dame, a little town near Dinant, where his mother passed away in 1889.

I know taking side trips to make sure you have the right spelling is not a requirement. I was just curious and was not disappointed to have made the detour.

This time around I can check my work and see if I am doing ok.  I have found some frustration in the arbitration process as arbitrators can't seem to agree on what to do with names with accents.
Do you put them in or do you write the name as you see it?

Then there is the issue of what to do with the child's surname...
Some arbitrators have you put it in while others take it away...
Rule is: Don't assume the child's surname if it is not written in before or after the child's given name(s).
So, since there is a button for 'Feedback' I clicked it for every time they added the child's surname when it wasn't there at all...  I hope this means the arbitrator's work will be reviewed and my correct entries restored.

Not that it is important to 'be right' but I do want to be as accurate as I can.
It's hard enough reading some of these names... (=

If you are comfortable working with Dutch or French or German records, I invite you to give Indexing a try.  If you are not and prefer English, try it too...  There is plenty of work to go around!
Most important thing is to ENJOY yourself while at the same time render a great service to researchers!


http://thebelgianresearchers.blogspot.com/

Are you Looking for Belgian Funeral Notices Online?

So far this year The Belgian Researchers have lost 2 good friends in Belgium:
- Jean-Jacques Hallaux, in January 2009, founder of Netradyle, http://www.netradyle.be/, who made so much information available to researchers online and whose kindness and generosity with his time was well known.

- Willem Bevernage, who passed away just days ago, at the age of 71. He too made abundant records available online with great deal of kindness to everyone.
http://www.vrijwilligersrab.be/willemcir/klappers.asp
UPDATE: The Belgian Archives now host these indexes - To do a search visit their page at:
 http://search.arch.be/en/zoeken-naar-personen
A tutorial was written by Damien DESQUEPER and made available at http://www.aghb.org/pdf/Archives-Tutorial.pdf for the Association Généalogique du Hainaut Belge

They both were of the rare breed of those who believed records should be available to all without cost.

Researchers have lost two great allies with their departure. Our hearts go out to their families who feel their loss in a more personal way.

As I was looking for more information on them I tracked down the site I had referred to several months ago. We have since changed our web page and I failed to archive all postings so… it took me a while to find it again.
As I ventured on the different sites, I came across several well worth mentioning here.
The only one I had kept in my links was the international one: http://www.enaos.net/P1200.aspx

This site is in English and simple to use and does have an “Advanced Search” option.
You have the option to set a Default search location by entering your country of residence. This can be changed any time you want. Just be aware that not all families post obituaries for their loved ones.
You should also check out http://www.defunt.be

It seems less encompassing as it was when I first found it as you can only narrow your search to locations in Wallonia and the site is in French only. There is an option to choose a Province, but I can’t see how to use the function properly. Maybe I’m not doing something right…
For the WAVRE, GREZ-DOICEAU, CHAUMONT-GISTOUX, PERWEZ, INCOURT, JODOIGNE, OTTIGNIES-LOUVAIN-LA-NEUVE, CHASTRE area, try http://site.voila.fr/pfdevroye/page4.html - in French
Of course newspapers will also contain obituaries. You can download editions in their pdf format from different sites.
http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/belgium.htm will give you links to Belgian newspaper sites. Some give you access to their online version but the obituaries are usually not accessible without a subscription to their pdf version. These papers can also be purchased by the day.
In “La Libre Belgique” the obituaries (necrologies) are found under “Carnet” in “La Meuse” under “Services” or “Necrologies”.

The newspaper "La Meuse" gives a special access:
http://necro.sudpresse.be/

Also try http://www.souvenez-vous.be/Home.aspx

Another place you can look is at http://www.aghb.org/index.php?page=fpdc
The Association Genealogique du Hainaut Belge has a database with 15,310 deaths. You have to do a search or you can contact one of their members to place a query.
Other Belgian genealogical societies have similar databases too.
http://netradyle.be/actes/ boasts 303,485 deaths/burials (along with Births and marriages – 1,050,165 records in all). This was Jean-Jacques Hallaux’ baby.

I found the old link I was missing by checking the archived "Latest News" on this site and found yet another treasure I had forgotten about:
Belgian Funeral Cards: http://www32.websamba.com/wvlgen/bidprentjes.htm

The link will direct you to a place where many people who help gather obituaries/funeral cards have made their work accessible to all.

For example:

found on Andre Verlinden's site Documents mortuaires en Flandres et en Ardennes at http://tilia.cordata.free.fr/galerie/album.php?id_album=2&stat=ok

or even Freddy De Ghouy's work at http://users.telenet.be/freddy.de.ghouy1/bidprentjes.pdf

Other sites are found many places, like the following

http://users.swing.be/louis.possoz/courcelles/CcS1779.htm for Burials in Courcelles between 1779 and 1793.

I will continue to add them to this post as I find them.
For more, try checking out our Links page. Contacting someone in Belgium who knows the historical background as well as the geographical landscape can give you invaluable help. Just remember to acknowledge the service they are willing to give you, even if it’s not exactly what you had hoped and make sure to make yourself available for others. You may not help someone with Belgian research right away but you have access to records only people living in your area do. So check and see what you can do to help with different projects.
The USGenweb has several obituaries and cemeteries projects.
Go to www.usgenweb.org
Choose a state, then look for either an alphabetical listing of all the counties found in that state or a map – this is valuable in as much as the county boundaries often changed and it pays off to look into neighboring counties –
Browse through the site for more records. If you live in one of those areas where Belgians have settled, or even if it’s not the case, contact the site’s webmaster and ask how you can help.

There is plenty to do out there. You may not be able to help the person who helped you but you can pass it on. Return the favor by helping someone else.
Hope these links can be of help to you.

FamilySearch indexing Projects

I received news today that might liven things up for the Belgian indexing project started by FamilySearch indexing a couple of years ago.

Jean Huysmans is the Belgian project manager. Every month he sends the indexers a report on the project's progress.
Up to now, the project has only released images of towns in Flanders and, even though there is work for both Dutch and French speakers, that has hindered a more active participation from many who might otherwise have added their efforts to the current indexers'.

The wonderful news came this morning that 2 test-case projects are about to be added:
one for Belgie, Kalmhout - Overlijdens Registers 1851-1900
and
one for Belgique, Charleroi - Deces 1851-1900


Similar projects have been released in the past and they usually get done faster than the current general projects. If this happens with the two above mentioned projects, FamilySearch will consider releasing more such smaller projects.

If anyone is interested in participating, they should contact Jean Huysman right away at jean.gsu@telenet.be or HuysmansJ@familysearch.org
Then download the indexing software from http://www.familysearchindexing.org/

A fluency in Dutch or French is not required to work on these records but it definitely helps as the highlighter available for projects like the census, will not be available as the information is found by reading the text of the record.
There is an added difficulty with the handwriting which may make reading the record impossible for those who are not acquainted with the language.

I hope this reaches someone and maybe lots of someones who will sign up and help us get these records indexed and the images available through FamilySearch (free access to qualified indexers, FHCs and members of the church in an intranet type setting)

For a quick idea at how these records will be accessible, go to
http://www.familysearchlabs.org/ and click on "Record Search"
or directly from the FamilySearch homepage at http://www.familysearch.org/
Click on "Search" and pick 'Record Search" from the pulldown menu.

I am really looking forward to working on this!
I hope many others will too!